Camp Reunion
by WhiteHouses28
Summary: It's been almost 6 months sense Percy has talked to Annabeth. But what gives? What is she not telling him? And, could Kronos be involved? PercyxAnnabeth. Now complete! :
1. The Reunion

** Hey! Please R&R! This is a story about Percy's 10 year camp reunion and how he deals with his feelings for Annabeth. This is a Percabeth story-- you'll see later. Thanks for reading! ~Jonny (WhiteHouses28)**

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** I was both excited and dreading my 10 year camp half-blood reunion. I couldn't wait to see all my old friends again, most notably Grover and Nico, but I couldn't help feeling slightly nervous about meeting Annabeth again. It wasn't that we still weren't friends--- it's just, the last time I'd seen her, we had got into a pretty bad argument about something pretty significant and the result had been us not making up for almost 6 months now. Today, I planned to do just that. I had known Annabeth for too long too well to just let our friendship slip through my fingers.

I arrived at the entrance to the camp about a half-hour late, which wasn't too bad for me, I had been known to sleep later than this. I passed easily through the borders of camp and made my way over to the big house where the reunion was taking place, and saw a sign that read in big letters: "WELCOME PET COMBERS!" No, wait that wasn't it. "WELCOME PAST CAMPERS!" Yeah, that sounded right.

As soon as I entered the entrance hall to the Big House, I found myself looking at a huge crowd of people milling around and chatting. I barely recognized some of the people, which was a bit pathetic seeing as how I grew up with them, but there were others I did see who I remembered. I scanned the faces to see if I could find Grover or Nico anywhere, but before I had time to plunge into the crowd and search, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I turned to see Grover grinning at me.

"Hey Grover! What's up?" I said excitedly. I was glad to see him. It had been too long.

"Hey Percy," he replied. We then proceeded to catch up on the last couple of months that we hadn't seen each other. It was all going great and we were busy laughing together when Grover asked a question that I was hoping he wouldn't.

"Have you talked to Annabeth yet?"

I sighed. "No, not yet."

"Well, you'd better do it soon buddy, she's not planning to stick around very long."

"She's not? Why?"

Grover shook his head. "I think it's something to do with prior commitments, but your going to have to ask her for the details."

I wasn't done asking questions, but just then Grover noticed one of his other satyr friends and went over to talk to them. Besides-- he was right. He wasn't going to tell me anything and it would probably be better to speak to Annabeth myself in stead of discussing her behind her back. I couldn't keep hiding from her, no matter how much she could scare me sometimes.

After a few brief minutes of searching, I spotted Annabeth standing over in a less crowded area, next to the punch bowl table. She was talking to Chiron animatedly about something. Knowing Annabeth, probably architecture. I walked up to them and quietly cleared my throat. They both looked at me. Chiron greeted me enthusiastically, but for some strange reason, Annabeth didn't say anything. After a small chat with Chiron, he pointedly moved off to talk to some other people. I think he got the message that I wanted to speak with Annabeth by myself for a bit. She looked beautiful. Her gray eyes still sparkled and her blond hair was just-- if not more-- pretty than she had new feel of sophisticatedness about her that only made her feel more influential. Same old Wise Girl.

"Uh, hey," I said awkwardly. Great Percy, I thought. Real smooth.

"Hey," she replied. Why was she looking at me so coldly? Our last fight hadn't been that bad, had it?

"Umm. How are things?" I asked. Annabeth looked into her punch glass absently before giving a plain reply.

"Oh, good. Work's enjoyable. I like my latest job. I finally got into architecture and design school, and got my degree. So, my job involves a lot of that sort of work."

"Oh! That's great! You've wanted to do that forever and now you have... yeah, great."

This was not going well. The conversation was as dry and Hade's Fun-Filled Water Park. This was nuts. Why wasn't she comfortable talking to me anymore? We'd been best friends as children, were we just going to let a little squabble ruin our whole friendship? I decided to try at conversation again, but I guess Annabeth wanted to try to because we spoke at the same time and ended up making no sense of each others words .

"What?" we said in unison.

"You go first," I said.

"Ok," She said. "Um, look, first, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner but I didn't know... I mean-- after our argument, I didn't know how to tell you this, but---"

What was she going to tell me? Hope flared in me for a moment. Maybe she was going to tell me that she missed me, that she'd hated the time we'd spent part, and never wanted it to happen again. Maybe she was trying to tell me she wanted to spend forever with me-- just like I wanted to with her. Then, she dropped the bombshell.

"Percy, I'm engaged."

My whole world crashed. Annabeth. Engaged. No, no... That wasn't supposed to happen, not like this anyway. She couldn't be... He hadn't even known she was seeing someone.

"Oh--- that's, nice." I was really working hard not to show any emotion either way, but I wasn't sure how well I was pulling it off, so I looked away slightly.

"Percy, look-- I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner but, it's like I said. I didn't know how."

Annabeth wasn't giving me the cold look anymore. She looked sorry, like she was sad she had to tell me this news.

"Right. It's fine, Annabeth." I said. " Um. Who's the guy?"

She looked happy as she began to discribe him to me. "Oh, he's a great guy. He and I met in college, and he's planning to be an architect just like I am. He's the one who suggested I take my job. He works there too. We've been going out for awhile now."

I nodded. " You love him?"

Annabeth smiled thoughtfully. "Yeah, Percy. I really think I do."

I kept trying to make myself feel happy for her, but my own stupid feelings kept getting in the way. "Is he-- you know-- mortal?"

Annabeth nooded."Yes, he's a mortal. But he can see through the mist, so he wasn't too shocked to find out about the gods and stuff. He's pretty smart."

"He must be perfect for you," I muttered. _She's happy, I thought. She's happy with who she's with. He loves her and she loves him. You can't change that. _

"My mom thinks he's a good choice for me. She likes that he's mortal. She thinks it'll be safer this way. I'll be able to lead a more normal lifestyle. Not like I would if--"

Annabeth stopped short and looked at me. I perked up. I looked up at her and she quickly averted her eyes.

"I should go." I said, a lump in my throat.

"Okay, it was nice to see you gain Percy." Annabeth smiled at me. She was really beautiful. Her feancee was one lucky guy.

"Yeah, you too," I replied. And then, I hurried away from her and departed all the way out of the Big House, leaving the reunion behind me. Somehow, seeing my old friends didn't matter anymore especially since my best friend was still back there and I had to let her go.

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**There's more to come!**


	2. Invatation

As soon as I got home I was ready to crash and take a long nap. It had been about a week since the reunion at Camp Half-Blood, and because of the time I took off to go, I now had to work overtime everyday to make up for it-- and I already worked late normally. I slammed my door to apartment and made my way through the giant mess that had accumulated on my floor, and to my outdated, oversized couch that usually doubled for a bed on most nights. I'm much too lazy to walk 3 steps to my room after work, let alone pick up any of the mess I made.

I was just laying down comfortably on the couch, settling in to watch some crap late-night talk show, when my phone rang. I frowned. No one hardly ever called me here, apart from my Mom, but it was so late, I didn't suppose it would be her. I reached over and answered the phone.

"Hello?" I said uncertainly.

"Hi Percy, it's Annabeth." My heart jolted. Annabeth? Why was she calling me? And why so late? "Sorry it's late, but I figured this would be just about the time you come home." Ah, that's why. Smart girl.

"Uh, yeah. I just got in. So what's up?"

"Well, you know how I mentioned my Fiancee to you at the reunion, well turns out he really wants to meet you. Says he's heard too much about you not to get to meet you. So i was wondering if you might want to join us for dinner some time. We could go to the La Broin."

I gulped. The La Broin was this super fancy french restaurant downtown that cost a fortune to eat there. But I didn't want to sound cheap, so I agreed.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Great! When is your best night?"

"Um. Well, I'm off on weekends..."

"Perfect. We'll meet you downtown at 7 then?"

"Yeah, sounds like a plan."

She said goodbye and then hung up, leaving me feeling extremely unsophisticated and slightly poor. I didn't have globs of money to spend on the side, but I wasn't living in the street. However, this restaurant would probably take some pinching to afford. Just then, Nico burst through the door and distilled my gloomy state.

"Hey, hey, hey Perce-- What's up?" He seemed in a gleeful mood, but then again, when wasn't Nico excited? Nico was my roommate and I was sure glad of it because there was no way I could've handled the cost of this apartment by myself. He came home all the time carrying in paper bags worth of random junk he bought at prank shacks and discount stores. Today, was no different.

He went over to the table, pushed all the stuff on it onto the floor and tipped the contents of a large brown bag onto the kitchen table.

"What the heck is that crap?" I asked staring at it.

Nico looked hurt. "It's not Crap! It's Whiz-Balls!"

"Whiz-Balls?" I said scyptically.

"Yeah, look. They're sour candy bouncy balls. You play with them, then you eat them. They're genius!"

I rolled my eyes but left him to enjoy his toy-candy. I began to watch my TV show again, but then Nico asked me a question.

"Hey-- do you want to go see a movie with me this weekend? Cause there's that new robot movie playing and--"

"I can't Nico. I've got dinner plans... with Annabeth."

Nico's eyes widened. "Oooohhhh! I got cha' ! So where you going on the date?"

"It's not a date!" I cried, feeling my face reddening.

Nico raised his eyebrows. "Ooh. But I thought... Didn't you two make up last week?"

"Yeah, but, it's not a date... She's engaged, Nico."

Nico's reaction surprized me. He smiled and then cheered. I frowned at him.

"Hey-- what's the big idea?"

"Pecry and Annabeth are finally engaged! Yay! I've been waiting for this for sooo long! I'm so happy for you-- Hey, how come you didn't tell me?"

"Not to me you idiot!" I said, feeling my face-- if possible-- go even redder.

"Oh." Nico's joyfull expression melted. "Umm. Whoops."

"Yeah," I said, looking away. " I'll be meeting her Fiancee on saturday."

To my surprise, Nico came over and put an arm around me. "I'm sorry buddy."

I smiled at him. "S'okay. She's happy with him, and that's all that really matters to me."

Man I wished that were true.


	3. Dinner with Mr Perfect

**Hey! Sorry it took me some time to update, but this chapter's the longest yet (Still, not terribly long). Anyways, I hope you like it, and I forgot to mention that this fanfiction is inspired by Elliot Smith's "Waltz #2 (XO)" It's a good song, and if anyone wants to hear it, I would highly recommend it. It may even give you a better picture of this fic-- who knows. In particular, the first verse and the chorus are asossiated here. Hope you enjoy! WhiteHouses28.**

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It was Saturday night, and I was on my way to the restaurant to meet Annabeth for dinner. I couldn't pretend I wasn't a bit nervous, I mean, what if this guy turned out to be some kind of supermodel or something? But the more I thought about it, I knew Annabeth wasn't the kind of girl who based her affection on good looks, I didn't call her Wise Girl for nothing. But still, I had no clue what this evening was going to be like.

When the cab finally pulled up outside the La Broin, the fancy french eatery Annabeth had chosen to meet at, I paid the driver and went inside. It was a nice, high-class sort of atmosphere in the restaurant. The lighting was dim and the furniture looked expensive, as did the food, but it smelled delicious.

"Hello? May I help you, sir?" I turned to see a waiter talking to me from behind his podium. "Uh, yeah," I replied. "I'm with a party of three, um, I'm not sure of the name..." I supposed it would probably be under Annabeth's Fiancee's name, not hers or mine, and I was just wondering how I could reach them when out of the blue, Annabeth and some strange guy I didn't know walked out from the dinning area.

"Percy, you made it!" said Annabeth, walking up to greet me." Wow, you even got a tux." She beamed at me. It was actually a rental, but Annabeth didn't need to know that little detail. She then turned to the guy and put an arm around his waist. "Percy," she started. "this is my Fiancee, Johnathan Grey."

Was it just me, or did this guy look suspiciously a lot like Luke? He had blond hair, deep, grey eyes, a pale, thin face, and a lanky frame. The only thing different was that Johnathan looked a lot more carefree and happy than I could remember Luke ever being. Annabeth smiled her dazzling smile at him, and he pointedly stuck out his hand. "How are ya doing, Percy? Annabeth's told me a lot about you."

I raised my eyebrows. _Has she now,_ I thought.

Annabeth turned to the dinning room. "Shall we go find our seats again, then?"

I nodded and followed them to our table. I couldn't help noticing how close Johnathan walked next to Annabeth, but I guess that was to be expected.

We sat down and decided what we were going to eat, (I barely understood any of it, it was all in french, but I eventually just decided on the special of the day, whatever that was) and then proceeded to start up a conversation.

"So Percy, what is it you do for a living exactly?" Asked Johnathan politely. _Oh boy, here we go,_ I thought. "Umm, well ya see it's a temporary job..." I started uncertainly. Annabeth nodded encouragingly.

"I work as an online sales man,"I blurted out. I could just feel the heat rising to my face. "It's just until I find out what it is I want to do exactly. I never got my degree.." I trailed off, feeling totally mortified.

Johnathan raised his eyebrows. "Oh, well that's smart, you don't want to waste good money on college before you know what you want to do with your life. Good idea. " I could tell he was trying to sound encouraging, but I was still really embarassed. I never liked discussing my career, and especially not with these accomplished people. Annabeth thankfully changed the topic.

We began a bunch of boring conversations about the economy, the good weather, our plans for the summer and everything was going pretty normal, until Johnathan asked another uncomfortable question. "So, how did you two originally become friends?"

"Well, we met at camp," began Annabeth, looking at me. "At first we hated each other, back then, Seaweed Brain wasn't a compliment."

I smiled, remembering the first time she ever called me "Seaweed Brain".

"But eventually I warmed up to him. We went on a couple quests together and we were always hanging out at camp with one another, I guess some people just can't hate each other, they're just destined to be best friends."

I thought about all the good times I'd had with Annabeth. I remembered When we first met, I had been unconscious and Annabeth was the first one I saw when I woke up; I remembered how we'd sailed all the way to the bermuda triangle(AKA: the cyclops' island) to rescue Grover when I was 13, and how I set out with 4 other people to save her when a year later. I recalled the time we'd spent in the labyrinth, and how she'd kissed me just before we parted at Mount St. Helens, unknowing of when she'd see me again, and how mad (but really sort of happily relieved) she had been to see that I wasn't dead in the explosion. And I remembered clearly the time we'd kissed at camp at the end of the big battle, and how I'd thought in my heart, we'd be together always. But here I sat, watching Annabeth enjoy herself living with another guy.

Annabeth smiled at me again, I smiled back, but then she took Johnathan's hand in hers and all they happy memories of us faded from my head.

When our meal finally came, the food was delicious-- well at least, Annabeth and Johnathan liked their meal... I however, personally thought my food looked disgusting. The special of the day was nothing special at all. It was actually quite revolting. If you asked me best describe what this, thing, in front of me was, I could best pin it down to looking something like a deflated football that had grown wings, had the stuffing beaten out of it, then seasoned heavily with an assortment of herbs that any grass allergy prone person wouldn't want to get within a hundred feet of, and baked to a crisp at a temperature of 375* . In realty, it was a stuffed duck with expensive (like everything else here) french seasoning. Ew. I think I'm seriously allergic to miss-shapen dinners. But this thing had cost me half my paycheck and I didn't want to look like a wimp next to Mr. Perfect, so I forced myself to down the whole thing. It was horrible, but for Annabeth's sake I didn't complain, not out loud anyways...

After dinner, our evening was pretty much at a close. Johnathan graciously offered to pay the check, but no matter how much I wanted to accept his offer, I declined. I wasn't about to let this guy show me up... again. He was really starting to get on my nerves, _does he have to be Mr. Perfect all the time? No wonder Annabeth wants to marry him, he's flawless..._

But even I had to admit he was a nice guy. And I was just jealous. There, I said it.

We said goodbye to one another on the street, Annabeth hugged me goodbye and Johnathan shook my hand. "It was nice to finally meet you, Percy." He said. I searched his face. _No jealousy? That's it? No, death-glare that says 'I want to rip out your guts for being best friends with my girlfriend' ? Just... 'Nice to meet you'? _I couldn't pretend I wasn't disappointed that I didn't have a good excuse to hate this guy. He was just to nice to want dead. _Darn it!_

We each flagged a cab, and I watched as Annabeth got into her cab, arm in arm with Johnathan. I watched her happy face, smiling and carefree, more carefree than I could remember seeing her in a long time. He looked happy too, and why shouldn't he? He was engaged to the most wonderful girl in the world. In the time we'd been apart I'd come to appreciate how beautiful Annabeth really was, both inside and out, and any sane man would be honored to have her for a wife. I was a pretty lucky guy, in general. I mean, come on, i'd escaped death how many times now?-- But I guess I just wasn't as lucky as some, because I stood and watched as the girl of my dreams drove away with some guy who wasn't me.

When I got home, all I did was go over and collapse face down on the couch, I didn't even bother to take off the monkey suit I had rented for to night. I was still laying like that when Nico found me.

"Hey, Percy. How'd the dinner thing go?"

I groaned.

"Rough time? Was the guy a nub?"

I shook my head as best I could while doing a face plant. "He was perfect, Nico. Flawless. Annabeth would never date a 'Nub' ".

Nico frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry, man. But hey! Look on the bright side! we can see that movie tomorrow, I heard it got great reviews. That is, unless your dinning with any other old friends tomorrow..."

I grinned. "Nah, a movie would be great." It could help take my mind off of things, I doubted anything in a robot movie would remind me of Annabeth, unless any of the robots were blond, good looking and uncommonly wise. Yeah, a movie with Nico was just what I needed.

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**Thanks for all the great reviews! Next chapter will be soon!**


	4. KronosServing FireDemon

When me and Nico got out of the movie, it was almost midnight. Nico didn't get off work until late, so we were forced to go to the last showing at the theatre before it shut down for the night, which neither of us minded very much. I liked the night, and so did Nico. I liked it because the tide of the ocean is always more powerful when the moon is risen, and well, Nico just liked it because it was dark. I was always surprised at how well off Nico was at his job. Usually people tend to have stigmas against hiring people that ware a lot of skulls and black clothing. But I guess it wasn't so bad, I mean, it wasn't like Nico had a bunch of obvious piercings and tattoos. Just black clothes and a skull ring.

He works downtown at a small locally owned coffee shop, so I guess it's not such a big deal what he wares to work there. Me-- I can ware whatever the heck I want. That's one of the few perks to being an online salesman. I could dress up in a giant chicken suit for all I care. No one sees me.

Nico had to get up early the next day to go to work, but I could be a little relaxed now that I was all caught up with business meetings and done working overtime-- so I went to the beach. I always do my best thinking at the sea side. The water helps to clear my mind. I walked along the dock to the end, and then sat down on a bench overlooking the water. This still made me restless so I decided to hop of the railing into the water. Now normally this little stunt would be a cause of panic for people see, I mean, jumping off a 10 foot high dock into unknown waters below? Crazy!

But lucky for me, being the son of the Sea God, I don't have to worry about small little issues like that. And fortunately it was so late that no one was here but me and the water. Or so I thought...

I was just walking along the sand bar under the dock, after I had waded to shore, when I became aware of some one else-- something else-- here with me. I turned, almost sure I would see a monster, I even pulled my pen/sword out of my pocket, ready it uncap it at the faintest sign of danger when--

I turned and found Johnathan, Annabeth's boyfriend, smiling at me. "Hey Percy! How's it going?" Johnathan's hair and clothes were wet, like he jumped off the pier too, and had a strange, glazed look in his eyes as he smiled at me. I looked at him uncertainly. "Hey... to you, too?"

Johnathan began walking forward, more quickly tan was natural, and when he opened his mouth to speak again, a voice that definitely shouldn't have belonged to him spoke. "Perseus Jackson! " he called. "Prepare to leave the world of the living! _Permanently!"_

By this time, I had uncapped Riptide, was pointing it at Johnathan. "Yeah, right, let's see you try."

Then, Johnathan changed, his body rose into the air, he sprouted wings on either side of him, great leathery ones, that had sharp points at the tips. And he formed a tail, thick and long, about as long as his body. And his face, the kind, reassuring, handsome face was gone, to be replaced by a horrible gruesome one, with sharp fangs and wild yellow eyes. This thing was no longer Johnathan. It was a demon from Hedes. "Kronos!" It shrieked, flapping its wings wildly. "We serve Kronos and the Titan Lords!"

"Kronos is dead!" I called up at it. "Your about 10 years too late!"

The demon-Johnathan-thing turned to me and opened its mouth to reveal even more pointed teeth. "The Titan Lord still has his loyal followers," it hissed. "There are those, like me who still are sworn to serve him, and to kill half-bloods, like you!"

The demon lunged at me, with its great teeth bared. I parried the attack with my sword and tried to strike it in the chest, but it was too quick for me. It flew around, to attack from a different angle,and I barely enough time to swing around and meet it.

The fight waded for several minutes and slowly, I was showing signs of tiredness. It was late, and I hadn't practiced for this sort of thing in years. The demon noticed my attack was slowing slightly. "Foolish mortal!" It hissed gleefully. "You can not best me! The fire demons of my kind can go much longer than any puny human, even one half immortal as you. You are no match for me!"

Then it hit me. The water. I was just a few steps from the ocean, if I could just get out into the water, and if this demon really was one of fire, then I still might stand a chance. I tried it.

I ran out into deeper water and naturally, the fire-demon followed. "Running away will not save you! I show no mercy!" I could hear the fire-demon cackling behind me.

As soon as I felt the tide surging around me, I turned back, my strength, and my power, renewed. "And I show no mercy either," I called back.

And then, a gianormous riptide crashed over me heading straight for the fire demon. It shrieked, and tried to fly away, but the water was too quick for it, and brought the demon under in one big _Whoosh!_ Splash! And that was the end of that.

I climbed out of the water, completely dry, on top of some rocks. "Wow," I said to myself. I never would have thought that Annabeth's fiance turned out to be possessed by some kind of Kronos-serving fire-demon. But, I suppose, being me, I should have expected it. Oh Gods, Annabeth. What was I going to tell her?

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The next day, I made up my mind to tell Annabeth the bad news. It was better to do it sooner rather than later, I mean she's bound to have noticed that her Fiancé's missing, and it would probably be best to let her know what happened _before_ she goes and involves the police. So I told her to meet me for coffee at Nico's work. (they have the _best_ Italian Sodas there).

But when Annabeth walked in the door, I almost gaged on my coffee. I had expected her to look forlorn and maybe even have red eyes from crying or something, but instead, she was laughing happily with non other than demonized Johnathan. My mind was reeling, _How could Johnathan still be alive? I thought I totaled him last night!_

Apparently I hadn't, because there he was, laughing with Annabeth and ordering a Latte like nothing had ever happened. It had happened, hadn't it? I wasn't crazy? No. No, he definitely had turned into an evil demon last night, or I wasn't Poseidon's son.

They came over and sat down with their orders, my mind was still unable to process the fact that I was sitting next to Johnathan-fire-demon-thing. This wasn't right...

"...Percy? are you alright?" Annabeth asked, looking at me quizzically.

"Wuh? Yeah, um, fine." I replied slowly. I narrowed my eyes at Johnathan, who pretended not to notice me and busied himself with stirring his coffee. Annabeth didn't look convinced and kept her gaze locked between me and Johnathan. I decided it was best to act normal for now and began asking her about any plans she might have for travel in the coming year. I hadn't anticipated Johnny coming along, so all my rehearsed conversations about him were out the window now. I did my best to keep a low profile and play up the Everything's-cool-no-your-boyfriend's-not-ademon-Annabeth-why-would-you-think-that, act and hope I would be able to figure this out. About 15 minutes later, Annabeth got up for the bathroom, leaving me and Johnathan alone together. "I'll be right back," she said and kissed Johnathan goodbye. I did my best not to gag, that was really a 10 foot long demon she was kissing, not her precious Johnny. I noticed how their hands lingered in each other's before pulling away. It would have been sweet.

As soon as Annabeth had disappeared, I shifted my eyes back on Johnathan. He stared across at me innocently. My eyes narrowed. "Hey, look, I know what game your playing at, and let me just tell you, buddy, don't even think about it!"

"Um, I'm not sure I know what you mean, Percy," said Johnathan giving me an uncertain look. Like, this guy is crazy!

"Oh don't play innocent with me! I know what you are! Demon-Kronos servant!"

A few people looked over at me when I said the last bit, and I realized I had half yelled it. Johnathan was looking really weirded and super embarrassed. "Percy, calm down. People are staring."

"Calm down? After what I know you could do to Annabeth? You can't hide from me-- I know what you are, you--"

But at that moment, Annabeth came out of the restroom and I was forced to stop talking. But I still fixed my eyes on Johnathan the whole time, until Annabeth got a call from someone at work, and they had to leave.

"Oh, shoot. Percy, I'm sorry, but dear--" she said turning to Johnathan. "We have to go. There's a problem with the greek architecture exhibit at the museum and we've got to help them sort it out." Johnathan nodded, not looking sorry at all to depart the scene. He glanced at me once before exiting the door with Annabeth, and I caught a faint look of fear in his face. Well, good. He should be scared. He's a demon, and I'm a Half-Blood, and its my job to hunt him down and to protect my friend. Even possibly from herself.


	5. Telling Annabeth

I decided that I had better get some help with my little "Annabeth's Fiance is a Demon" problem, and apart from Nico, I had no one to go to. I thought about calling some old friends from camp, but that would be a bit of an awkward way to start keeping in touch with them again, seeing as how I didn't really meet any of them at the reunion apart from Annabeth and Grover. I couldn't just call them up randomly and say; "Hey buddy, listen I know I haven't called in years, but I really need your help destroying Annabeth's fiance, he's really a servant of Kronos come back from the abyss to hunt us down. So you in?"

Yeah, not a likely scenario.

I Knew I could call Grover if I had to, but he wasn't really a half-blood, he was a satyr, and he had his own problems to deal with. I even tried Tyson, but he was out of signal reach every time I tried him, both cellphone and Iris message, which was weird.

I was just thinking that I was out of options, when it came to me. The person I could call for help. It was so perfect,_ why hadn't I thought of it before? _I picked up the phone and dialed the number.

Rachel agreed to meet me at the internet cafe I usually did my work at. It was a relaxed environment, and incidentally, only 3 blocks from Rachel's apartment. I was planning to tell her about everything more in depth once she arrived and then we could figure out a plan from there.

She came in waring her usual T-shirt and jeans and her hair was pulled back behind her in a pony-tail. She looked just the same as ever, carefree, charismatic, and smiling. It was good to see her. I hailed her over to my table and she hurried over looking happy to see me. "Hey Percy! Long time, no see. I got your distress call--- so what's up?"

I explained everything about my suspicions to her and she frowned. "That's bad"

"No kidding," I replied.

"Well, first off, I should probably find out where this guy is right now. And what his schedule is like. It could help us pin him down."

"Okay, we can start at the museum in the greek architecture exhibit, that's where he and Annabeth are working."

Rachel nodded. "Let's go."

It didn't take us long to get down there and get inside. The Museums are usually pretty empty on weekdays. Together me and Rachel hurried to the Section on our map labeled "Greek History", and found it busy with construction workers and supervisors overseeing the building of some new area of the exhibit. Not wanting to be noticed, we slunk down and hid behind a spiky plant to observe the workers. Looking back on it, it probably would have been really embarrassing if someone found us like that, but luckily no one was paying any attention to the shrubbery round them. I spotted Johnathan quickly and pointed him out to Rachel.

"That's him!" I said in a whisper. "That's Annabeth's demon-Fiance."

To my shock, Rachel just frowned and shook her head. "No... That's not right..."

"What do you mean it's not right?"

"What I mean is that Johnathan's not the evil one here. There's something else... I think some thing's possessing him from the inside, because he has the glow, but it's faint, like that's not all he's made up of-- monster gunk."

I shook my head. "But I killed that thing inside of him Rachel, the monster thing vanished when I pulled that wave over its head it just--"

"It just reformed, Percy. It disappeared and reformed again in Johnathan's body. You never killed it."

It made sense, but I still didn't want to believe it. I had been so sure that Johnathan was evil, but turns out he's just a guy who's possessed. Maybe it was just my jealousy running away withy me again. Maybe I had just wanted an excuse to dislike Johnathan, because he had Annabeth and I didn't.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts. "How long has the monster been possessing him?"

Rachel shook her head, wondering. "Oh, I'm don't know, maybe-- maybe a couple of years, at least."

A couple of years, that would mean he had met Annabeth as a demon, Annabeth had unknowingly, fallen for a guy who was possessed by a servant of Kronos. Poor Annabeth, how was I ever going to tell her the truth?

Rachel seemed to read my thoughts. "Your wondering how you'll tell her, aren't you?" I looked at her and nodded.

Rachel seemed to consider this. "You'll have to do it soon. Possessed or not-- Annabeth can't marry Johnathan like this. She's got to know."

I took a deep breath in and let it out. "Okay," I said. "I'll tell her. Soon."

"Soon" didn't happen soon at all, I had put it off for almost a week, dreading and not knowing how to approach Annabeth with my news, when I got a phone call from Rachel.

"Hello?"

"Did you do it yet?"

"Excuse me?"

"It's Rachel, hi. Did you tell Annabeth about Johnathan being possessed yet?"

"Um... Not exactly, no."

"Well You better get a move on, Jackson! Or you'll be best man in an inter-species Demon-Human wedding!"

She hung up the phone before I could reply. And that pretty much settled my procrastination.

I arrived at Annabeth's apartment around noon. I had got up early this morning after a long, sleepless night of worry, to restless to just sit in bed trying to to sleep. I hadn't exactly known where Annabeth was living with Johnathan, but it's not too terribly hard to look someone up in the phone book.

She lived on the forth floor, apartment B, second on the left. Just off King's st. I reached her door and knocked. It took a minute but the door opened. Luckily, it was Annabeth who greeted me, not Johnathan.

"Hey," I said, holding up a hand in salute.

Annabeth gave me a confused look. "Uh, hi. I didn't expect to see you here, Percy. Um, how'd you know I lived here?"

"Oh, well, you know... I checked the phone book. I need to talk with you," I said scratching my head uncomfortably. Annabeth widened her eyes and looked expectantly at me.

"Uh, alone."

Annabeth sighed and entered the hallway, shutting the door behind her. "Okay, but is this quick? Because I've got to meet Johnathan in an hour and I've not even showered yet. He's not here, you know."

I felt relieved to hear that we were alone. She was still in her bathrobe as I noticed now, and her hair looked tousled, but she still looked pretty amazing in my eyes. I guess that just goes to show how beautiful she really is.

"What's this all about?" she asked

I took a deep breath and told her about my battle with Johnathan, how I had asked Rachel for help, and how she had explained that Johnathan was possessed by a fire-demon, and probably had been for years. All Annabeth did was shake her head when I finished.

It probably did sound pretty far-fetched, but she was a half-blood, she should have gotten used to these sort of unexpected turns in her life-- like her Fiance being afire-demon possessed. Annabeth's eyes had stirred when I mentioned Rachel, but her expression was still blank and intent.

"Percy," said Annabeth to me. "I've heard a lot of crazy things in my life, but this has got to be the most outrageous thing I've ever heard you say."

Her eyes showed skepticism and worry, like she thought I was making all this up or something.

"I'm not lying, it's true," I protested. "Johnathan's possessed by a demon from Tartarus--- but it's not his fault-- it's the demon inside him. It's kind of like Luke with Kronos when---"

A flash of anger and pain lit Annabeth's face momentarily when I mentioned Luke, but she soon recovered. She started shaking her head in disbelief and turning away. "Johnathan was right, I thought he was just kidding, or you were, but your serious."

"Wait-- what did Johnathan say exactly?"

"Johnathan said something about you going nuts on him and accusing him of all these far-fetched deeds, all having to do with greek mythology. On that day we coffee together."

"He _told_ you? He's trying to turn you against me! He realizes I'm on to him, and the demon inside is persuading you not to pay attention to the warnings!"

"Percy, honestly! Thats a bit extreme, now your sounding crazy. Just calm down, getting paranoid---"

"I am _not_ paranoid! I'm right, why can't you see it?" I cut her off, and that made her upset. _Never _ cut Annabeth off-- not a good idea. But I was upset too, and made the mistake.

"I can't believe he mentioned that! There was a reason I didn't tell him in front of you. I wanted to wait to tell you about his true identity."

Annabeth's temper flared and she looked at me in defiant fury. "Of course he told me, Percy! He's my Fiance, he tells me these kind of things. We communicate. Unlike you, who I thought was my best friend,"

I winced. That statement hit me hard. I had let my feelings run away with me again and now both of us were upset and arguing, which is something I definitely hadn't come here to do.

"Look, I'm sorry. I was just waiting for the right time to tell you," I said, softening my voice and trying to make amends.

"Oh! The right time? And when would that be, Percy? When you've destroyed my so-called demon-possessed Fiance and sent him down to Tartarus? When you've ruined my only chance of happiness with Johnathan? _Oh, sorry Annabeth, I meant to tell you, but I thought your Fiance was really a fire-demon serving Kronos, so I destroyed him_? _My bad, but wedding's off."_

With every word it felt like little knives were driving deeper and deeper into my heart. I felt horrible.

"No, Annabeth, it wasn't like that---"

But Annabeth shot me a hurt look and the words died in my throat.

"You know what I think it is, Percy? I think your just jealous, but to proud to admit it to anyone. Couldn't you just let me be happy? Could you _please_ let that be just enough for you?"

And, leaving me stunned and dazed with her words still hanging in the air, Annabeth turned and went into her apartment shutting the door tight be hind her on me and the silence. I thought I heard a her stifle a sob from behind the door, but then she moved away from it and I slunk down to the floor, feeling if possible, worse than ever before.


	6. Defeat

**Hey! Sorry for the wait, but here we go! Kinda long, but It's almost done and this chapter is important. (Aren't they all?) Enjoy! And PLEASE R&R, please. Thanks, WhiteHouses28

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It had been a whole 5 days since I'd had my argument with Annabeth, and I didn't feel any better than I had before. Now Annabeth's wedding was only 4 days away and she was still in denial about Johnathan. I didn't know what to do-- I couldn't call her, I had no idea what to say, and would probably only make things worse between us. Rachel had offered to call her for me, but considering that Rachel wasn't exactly Annabeth's favorite person in the whole world, I declined that offer. This was horrible. Wasn't a girl's wedding day supposed to be the happiest day of her life? A time when everyone came to celebrate her union with her true love with her and all was well? Yeah, well thanks to me I had probably wrecked any chance of _that_ happening to her and Johnathan. _Some best friend you are, Percy,_ I thought to myself.

Well, no matter what kind of person I was, we were still faced with a problem: How to de-demonize Johnathan before the wedding in 4 days. Me, Rachel and Nico were all sitting together around our kitchen table, brainstorming. At least-- Rachel was. I wasn't having much luck coming up with a plan, and Nico looked just as productive as me. He was lounging back in his chair and he had a bored look on his face.

"Any ideas?" I asked, turning to Rachel. She shook her head in concentration.

"No, not yet. Hmmm..... Listen, we need to find a way to release the demon from Johnathan's body so we can destroy it, without killing Johnathan in the process."

Nico sat up and rolled his eyes in frustration. "Yeah, right, like that will be easy."

"It won't be," replied Rachel. "Oh, I can almost remember something... something that would help us, a Greek spell or--"

She suddenly stopped and sat up, a look of remembrance dawning on her face.

"I got it!" she cried. We both looked at her excitedly.

"You did? Well, what is it?"

"Something from my Greek history class in college, I've got to go--"

Rachel stood up and gathered her things very suddenly. She raced out the door calling behind her for us to meet her at the rehearsal dinner for the wedding at 5 o' clock on Thursday. She didn't even give us any time to ask questions.

Nico looked at me and shrugged as soon as she was gone. "Okay, then. 5 o' clock it is..."

I nodded back distracted. I just really hoped Rachel had a good plan, I wanted to make my fight up to Annabeth, and the way to do that would be to save Johnathan.

_Couldn't you just let that be enough for you, Percy. To make me happy._

I sighed sadly as I recalled Annabeth's words. She was my best friend and her happiness was what I should want. "I'll make it up to you, Wise Girl," I muttered to myself. "I promise, your wedding day will be the happiest moment of your life."

On the night of the rehearsal dinner, me and Nico arrived at the hotel where the wedding would take place in the downstairs chapel. We were waring our rented money-suits and standing around the reception area upstairs, waiting for Rachel.

Nico checked his watch again. "It's 5, where is she?"

I shrugged. "Maybe she had trouble getting whatever it is she needed and is running late."

Nico raised his eyebrows. "She's had three days to come up with it. She shouldn't be late."

I didn't know where she could be, and just about to suggest that maybe we'd miss understood where she'd wanted us to meet-- when Rachel came through the door, carrying the largest most heavy-duty looking thermos I'd ever seen.

"What the hades is _that_," asked Nico, looking incredulously at the thing in Rachel arms. She took a minute to catch her breath before explaining.

"It's a spell, sorry it took me so long guys, but I had to let it stew for a certain amount of time before moving it and then when i got here--- well, 10 pounds of ancient greek spell can only travel so fast up the stairs."

I smiled at her. "That's great! I can't believe you brewed a real spell by yourself in 3 days time. Wow. Will it work?"

"It should," she said. "But we won't know until we test it. Where's Johnathan? Did you track him down okay?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah, he's downstairs in the chapel now, getting ready for the rehearsal ceremony."

"We'd better do it quick," said Rachel. "The ceremony doesn't begin for another hour, but I'm not sure exactly how long this could take."

I took a breathy in and gathered myself together. "Alright, let's go."

Now, you may think getting a guy alone in a room the day before his wedding is difficult. I assure you it is. Every time we saw Johnathan, he was surrounded by some family member or wedding crew. But eventually, Rachel managed to pull him away. We got him in the upstairs reception hall, on the pretense of checking the silverware. All the kitchen help had finished setting up the tables and chairs and had left the room. It was now just us, and Johnny.

I had been wondering about how we were going to get Johnathan into he spell without him freaking out, but there was no need. The minute I pulled out Riptide, Johnathan's features changed, and he began to become the demon I had fought on the pier, taking all of us by surprise.

We all stood our ground, and Rachel held up the giant canister of Greek Spell. Johnathan the demon cackled at us through his scaly mouth and pointed teeth.

"Fools!" He hissed. "Was not defeating you once enough? This time, I shall not let you pass." The fire-demon spread it's leathery wings out as far as it could and screeched.

"Defeated me?" I called up to it. "Ha! I let you go free."

The creature screeched again, and Rachel grabbed my arm. "Percy," she said. "We need to get the spell into it's mouth, It must swallow it. Keep it's jaws open."

I nodded and began to dash back and forth between it's swipes at my face, dodging the blows. I laughed. "You can'[t even catch a puny half-blood like myself, " I taunted it, raising Riptide up in a challenge.

The creature opened it's mouth to speak, but Rachel had the top off the giant thermos by now with help from Nico, and had shot a huge glob of it into the monster's mouth. It spluttered and momentarily lost it's concentration. I took a swipe at it and looked at rachel. Her hands were drenched in Neon Green goop. "We don't want to hurt him Percy. Remember, johnathan is still in there somewhere. But keep it up, There's a lot more of this stuff to feed it. I nodded and kept dodging around the fire-demon who had regained his focus and was starting to attack again.

Slowly but surely, we managed to get almost all of the gunk into the demon and with each batch the demon seemed to be weakening. But, it also seemed to be learning not to open it's mouth.

"Come on Percy!" Called Nico to me. "We just need it to eat one more mouthful! Get it to open up again."

There was no amount of taunting that would force the demon to open it's jaws again. There was only one way to do this.

I stabbed the demon, despite protests from Rachel and hoped up onto a table and onto the demon's back while it was distracted. Rachel gasped. "Percy! Be careful."

I grunted a reply and muttered to myself. "Okay demon, here we go."

And with all my might, I yelled right into the fire-demon's ear. It couldn't help it. It paled and blanched, doubling over and screeching in shock. Rachel didn't miss her chance, she grabbed two fistfuls of the spell and hurled it into it's mouth. Very suddenly, the demon crumpled, giving me a split second to jump off of it an onto the ground.

We all watched as the thing began to change, It shrunk and became more human in form. Before long, the regular form of Johnathan appeared crouched on the floor. All was still for a minute and then-- a huge yell, I mean big, erupted from all around us and with a huge explosion of green-yellow smoke. I knew we'd done it. We'd bested the demon and sent it to Tartarus.

I now hurried over to where the ragged form of Johnathan was lying. For one scary moment, he didn't breathe or move, then with a rattling breath, he became animated once more. Relief flooded through me and I felt the tension release from Rachel and Nico's shoulders around me.

"Wh-what?" Johnathan said. He was completely disoriented. "Where am I? Who--"

"Just lay down, you've been through a lot," soothed Rachel, but before we could do anything else to help him, we all heard the door bang behind us.

I turned slowly and saw Annabeth, her face an unreadable blend somewhere between anguish, anger and fury.

"Annabeth--" I began. But she shut her eyes and held up a hand.

"Don't Percy. You've done enough. I can't-- You really--" She seemed to be fighting to find the right words to describe her feelings. Her voice shook with rage. "She opened her mouth again, but didn't seem to be able to find the strength to make her voice work, and closed it again. I got up and same towards her. "Annabeth..." I stated, but she pulled away, tears in her eyes.

I laid my other hand on her and wouldn't let her leave. She tried to turn away, but my gaze stayed locked with hers. Finally, she crumpled and I pulled her into a gentle hug. She sobbed on my shoulder for a second, tried to collect herself, and failed. "Shhh...." I said to her. "It's okay to cry."

We stood there for a long time, well it felt long to me. I don't know how long it really was. But it didn't matter, I was with her.


	7. A Happy Ending

There was nothing left for me to do. I had ruined Annabeth's friendship withy me in every way possible. no matter what I considered doing to make up for all that I'd done, every idea was just not good enough, and there was no guarantee that Annabeth would ever talk to me again anyway.

Rachel is a fine friend in her own way, but she's just no Annabeth. I'd known Annabeth a lot longer than her, and we'd been through so much more together. I had feeling for Annabeth that I didn't have for Rachel, and I couldn't ever forget that.

Grover had managed to take time off to come see me. I had finally been able to fill him in on everything, and despite the fact that I was trying save Annabeth, he agreed with me that it was probably pretty stupid of me to go after her fiance like that. His best advice was to keep trying at making it up with Annabeth. I really hoped Johnathan was okay, last I saw him, he was. But then, I didn't have much time to check on him thoroughly before Annabeth's relatives kicked me out.

I was feeling at an all-time low. I resolved to go down to the beach after putting in a few work hours one day. It was almost sunset. I was probably going to stay out here for a long time, knowing me and how I loved the water-front. At least till the moon rose, that's my favorite time and place to be: at the beach at midnight. The tide is strongest then.

But now, it was still light out, and it being a weekday, not too crowded. Not many people were out on the bay. It was just me, and the water, alone with my thoughts.

I sat for awhile, letting the evening sun cast a ray of light across the horizon and onto me. I went into a kind of relaxed state of peace-- until an unexpected interference broke my trance. A long shadow broke into my dim orange ray of sun, making me look up. I squinted at the indistinct shape of a girl hanging over me.

"Hi. Mind if I join you?"

The last person I expected to see was smiling sheepishly down at me with long, wavy blond hair framing a beautiful face and stunning gray eyes.

"Annabeth!" I said, surprised.

She answered with a pointed nod towards the ground, and I encouraged her to sit.

When she did, all was quiet for an awkward moment before our eyes met. I couldn't take mine off of hers.

I opened my mouth, but then shut it again. I tried a second time too-- but then Annabeth spoke.

"Percy, this--- About John... You were right all along, I should've listened to you. I'm sorry."

I had nothing to say. I probably should have acknowledged that I accepted her apology, but I was so surprised to see her and hear these words that I didn't possibly know what to say.

After a moment Annabeth let out a small breath.

"It was just hard for me, you know? I mean, I was so happy with him-- I didn't want to believe he was what he was--"

Annabeth sighed.

"I was just _so_ happy. But I guess when your a half-blood, some things just aren't meant to be, like my perfect wedding... And, we attract monsters, disguised as great people, like Johnathan."

Annabeth was crying softly and I gently pulled my arm around her. "Hey, don't worry. It's not your fault about what happened to Johnathan. He's okay, right? And your safe. You can still be together."

But Annabeth shook her head. "No. Johnathan-- h-he has a family. When the monster took him over, he was already married and he has a child. His wife thought he was in a coma for years and has been waiting on him to come home-- and now he has. Johnathan didn't have any clue what he was doing while the monster possessed him. All those years.... it's like he really was in a coma. He doesn't remember me at all-- and h-he's ha-happy with his f-family."

Annabeth was sobbing softly now. It was all crashing in on her. This man she'd known for years, fallen in love with and planned to marry-- he was fake. Her whole romance was a puppeteering act by a cruel demon trying to get back at some half-bloods.

"Why you? Why'd the demon have to put so much effort into _you?_" I wondered allowed, appalled.

Annabeth sniffed and answered. "He knew I was an important leader figure for camp half-blood. And, I know you. They knew I had connections that would help target more half-bloods. All the part guests and relatives? They were just mortals bewitched like the ones on Luke's old cruise ship. Not real at all. I could've lead them to everyone else-- I could've killed them!"

This was a bit much, but Annabeth was quite upset. I shushed her gently again, but she went on.

"And the worst of it all was knowing I had fought with you and called you a liar. You tried to warn me and I wouldn't listen. But now I see, I'm sorry Percy," she said again.

"Annabeth, it's alright. We'll get through this rough patch together. Your my best friend, and I'll never let anything hurt you."

Annabeth looked up into my eyes with a touched expression. I took her hand as she dried her eyes with her other. She sniffed finally and gave me a watery smile. I smiled back at her. "I'm sorry everything went south with Johnathan," I told her.

"Percy, can I ask you something?" Annabeth said.

"What?"

"Did you ever feel jealous of Johnathan? I want the truth..."

She was looking at me quizzically. I sighed and felt the pressure of her gaze upon me. "I-- not really. I just--"

I caught a glance from Annabeth.

"Alright, just a little. But only because it meant I didn't get as much time with you as I'd like, you know like I used to. Back in the good old days when we were kids-- and before working was mandatory."

Annabeth laughed. "We're still kids Percy, just adult ones."

I Smiled at her back-words logic, and laughed for a moment with her. _This is so easy. It's as though nothing had ever come between us._

Then, quickly Annabeth tilted my chin forwards towards herself and kissed me. It was quick, but it felt an eternity, as it always does when your close to someone you love.

Suddenly I was at the bottom of the lake at camp half-blood again, sixteen years old and on top of the world, with Annabeth.

She smiled as we pulled away. I looked into her eyes and saw my own pure joy reflected in her own, and at once, everything seemed right for me. The restlessness I'd been fighting with ever since that Camp Reunion day, felt lifted from me. And, looking looking into Annabeth's warm, gray eyes, I couldn't help but feel she felt the same.

"We'll take it slow, then? You know, it being so soon and all after..."

"Yeah, slow would be nice..." said Annabeth trailing off with a happy smile.

I squeezed her hand for a brief moment, before falling into another but slightly slower kiss. The evening sun was just peaking behind the horizon now.

And I could've sworn I heard the sea calling a bubbling laugh of exhilaration from the sea foam, and almost could feel the tide swaying in and out with our every heartbeat. I suppose that could just be my imagination, or it could very well be my Dad saying _'alright, son!' _and approving me and Annabeth. I may never know.

But what I did know was Annabeth sitting here on the beach very close to me and I knew that as long as I didn't look back it could be like the whole ugly mess with Johnathan was never even there.


End file.
